Bill Foster, CD, PhD

I am an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at the Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I successfully defended my dissertation on 30 June 2015, and my PhD was conferred on 10 November 2015.

My program of research looks at firm performance, specifically strategic change, through the dual lenses of formal and informal networks.  I start from the premise that the informal, or emergent, networking behavior of organizational members is deeply rooted in, and reflective of, the organizational context – this includes the formal organization as defined by its the strategic intent and the supporting structures, systems, and policies.  Building upon ideas from organizational change and agency, I suggest that the strategic direction of management is differentially perceived and enacted by individuals.  I ask: to what extent does the interplay between the strategic goals of management and the agency of individuals influence the evolution of interpersonal interactions in a period of organizational strategic change?  

My dissertation research investigated this and other questions through the simulation of a dynamic network model and a corresponding empirical study within a very distinct setting (a military strategic planning organization).  Today my research is not limited to the traditional idea of “firms”; in fact, my current projects apply ideas of networking behaviour to family businesses and harassment.  My research uses genetic algorithms on NK-landscapes, econometric analysis, and network methods and surveys.

I am excited to be at a research-oriented faculty, and a school with an emphasis on teaching.  The students here are world-class.